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564 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
B uil ding a Char acter to E x por t to
FB X
To properly export a 3ds Max character to the FBX
file t ype, you need to design it in a cer tain way.
This topic descr ibes several things to consider
while assembling a character for FBX Export.
Building the Mesh
• Negative scaling on mesh objects is not
supported by FBX plug-ins, especially if the
mesh is used as weight on a skeleton.
• Onceyourmeshiscompleted,besureto
resetthepivotpointandtransformitinthe
Hierarchy pane.
Mapping
FBX only supports UVW Mapping, so you should
only use the
UVW Map (page 1–905) and Unwrap
UVW (page 1–867)
modifiers.
Using Mor ph Ta rgets
FBX supports Morph targets, therefore when a
morph is applied to a mesh, the Morph channel
is preserved; you don’t need to expor t the Morph
Targ e t g e ometr y.
B uilding a Sk eleton
To build a sk eleton for FB X Expor t:
1.
IntheBoneToolsdialog>ObjectProperties
rollout > Stretch group, choose N one.
FBX does not support squash and scale.
2. Create a skeleton without IK Chains (history
independent).
3. Build the skeleton using a standard hierarchy,
asfollows(thePelvisobjectistherootofthe
hierarchy; the rest of the list is indented as in the
3ds Max Selec t By Name dialog , with Display
Subtree turned on):
Pelvis
Right
Right Upper Leg
Right Leg
Right Ankle
Right Foot
Right Toe
Left
Left Upper Leg
Left Leg
Left Ankle
Left Foot
Left Toe
Spine 1
Spine 2
Spine 3
Right Collar
Right Shoulder
Right Upper Arm
Right Forearm
Right Wrist
Right Hand
Left Collar
Left Shoulder
Left Upper Arm
Left Forearm
Left Wrist
Left Hand
Neck
Head
Head End
Your skeleton is now ready to be exported to
FBX.
4. To export, choose File menu > Export >
Kaydara FiLMBO X (*.FBX).
Ski nning the Chara cter
• Skinweightingissupportedonlywhenapplied
to an editable mesh.
•
Skin (page 1–781) and Physique (a character
studio plug-in) are the only two 3ds Max
weighting modifiers suppor ted by FBX.
• Physique and Skin modifiers can be applied to
two different objects in the same scene.
• Negative scaling on weighted skeleton meshes
is not supported by FBX.